


Move In Day

by brightblackholes



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish goes to college and has feelings, Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, move in day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 06:22:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15858003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightblackholes/pseuds/brightblackholes
Summary: Adam used to dream about this day, ever since the concept of college entered his awareness.  He would lay awake in his bed at night, picturing getting in his car and driving away from Henrietta forever, off to higher education and a life free from his father’s hands and the dirt that seemed to perpetually cling to his skin.  He would go to an esteemed university, get a good degree, and finally,finallyfeel like he belonged somewhere besides the worn down double wide.  He would no longer be Adam Parrish, trailer trash, but would be Adam Parrish, success story.When he dreamt about this day, however, he never pictured having something to leave behind.





	Move In Day

Adam used to dream about this day, ever since the concept of college entered his awareness. He would lay awake in his bed at night, picturing getting in his car and driving away from Henrietta forever, off to higher education and a life free from his father’s hands and the dirt that seemed to perpetually cling to his skin. He would go to an esteemed university, get a good degree, and finally, _finally_ feel like he belonged somewhere besides the worn down double wide. He would no longer be Adam Parrish, trailer trash, but would be Adam Parrish, success story.

When he dreamt about this day, however, he never pictured having something to leave behind.

Adam keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead and refuses to let himself check the review mirror, despite knowing that the Barnes was already too many miles away to be imagined.

Ronan made him breakfast that morning, then helped him pack his car and watched from the porch as Adam left, Opal running circles around him because she didn’t want to see Adam go, either. The goodbye was short, just a single kiss and a hug that lingered a second longer than usual, and Adam knows they did it like that to try and minimize the pain. No one had cried, but that doesn’t mean Adam doesn’t feel like he left a piece of his heart back in Henrietta.

The drive to college is miles and miles of scenic fields and woods, broken up by small highway towns until he reaches the exit he needs. The trip usually should take three and a half hours, but the exit and town is crowded with cars stuffed full of everything a college kid may need for their dorm. When the university itself finally comes into view, Adam is equal parts relieved and anxious. Someone in a fluorescent vest directs him to a parking spot, and Adam doesn’t even bother with pulling up in front of his dorm and unloading. He can’t leave his stuff unguarded, and he needs to grab his dorm key first, so he takes the messenger bag that Gansey gave him so long ago and his suitcase and enters Jackson Hall.

It’s crowded, with more parents than students, and Adam immediately feels out of place. His college isn’t the pristine castles full of trust fund boys that Aglionby was, but he’s still a kid without parents and money in a place where everyone else has at least a bit of both. There’s an overwhelming amount of people crowded amid suitcases and boxes, and someone is playing music that makes distinct words hard to hear. He gets in line to check that the emergency information they have on file is correct (Ronan’s name and cell phone number are typed clearly, with Gansey’s phone as the secondary one) and eventually reaches the table where RAs are handing out room keys.

“Hi! What’s your name?” A bubbly girl in a polo shirt asks.

“Adam Parrish,” he replies, and she types something into a laptop then starts digging through the envelopes.

“You’re in room 316! Looks like your roommate is already here, too. All of the hall doors are open for today and the elevator is right over there, although we do only have one for the whole hall. Lunch is being served in the basement of Stanton right across the street! Any questions?”

“No. Thank you,” he replies, and she beams at him.

“Welcome to college!”

He takes his key and heads towards the nearest staircase. Someone holds the door for him and he nods in thanks, then starts lugging his suitcase up, trying not to run in to anyone.

The third floor has pictures of gorillas all over the place, and one of the walls has “Welcome to the Jungle!” taped to it in green paper letters. Adam hopes this isn’t an actual indicator for how living on the floor is going to go. Jackson Hall is divided by floor as far as genders go, and if the 39 boys living around him all act like gorillas when he’s trying to sleep, Adam is going to become a very unpleasant person to be around.

The door to room 316 is open when he finds it, with a chunky boy with dark skin talking to a short woman with equally dark skin holding two pairs of sheets and empathetically waving them around. Adam knocks on the frame of the door and they both turn to him.

“Are you Chuck?” he asks. The boy breaks out a tentative smile.

“Yeah. Adam?”

Adam nods, and Chuck’s mom starts talking a mile a minute and clearing boxes out of the path of the door.

“Oh hel _lo_ , it’s so good to meet you, sorry about the mess we’re just moving in, Lord almighty, hope you don’t mind that Chuck’s already chosen a side, his dad’s coming up with the fridge now, are your parents here, just can’t wait to meet them!”

“Just me, I’m afraid,” he chooses to say. “Which bed is mine?”

“This one on the right,” she says. “We’re mostly moved in, so we can help you with your things. We have a dolly!”

“That’s okay. I packed really light and I don’t have a lot of stuff,” Adam says, rolling his suitcase under the bed and setting the messenger bag next to it. The room has a higher ceiling than he anticipated, and the bed is already lofted high enough off the ground that Blue and possibly even Henry could stand comfortably underneath it.

“Chuck can at least carry the microwave, can’t you, Chuck?” the mother says.

“Yeah, of course,” Chuck says quietly, and Adam thinks he likes him already. He’s unobtrusive, but has kind eyes. They talked a bit over text before this to sort out details like who was bringing the rug (Chuck) and if they wanted a tv or futon (no), and Adam thinks he’s going to be good to live with.

Chuck’s father arrives just then, and Adam goes through the introductions and question about his parents again, as well as the offers for help. Adam is about to insist that they don’t have to help because he doesn’t really want them to see his car when someone else appears in the doorway.

“Adam, where do you want this bin?”

Adam’s brain skids to a stop, then takes a second to restart. He blinks hard, in case he’s hallucinating, but the woman in the doorway raises an eyebrow instead of going away.

“Maura,” he says dumbly.

“On the desk for now, then. Dean, that can go under the bed with the other one.”

Maura moves aside, and the Gray Man squeezes by her with Adam’s other suitcase, the microwave balanced on top of it.

“What are you doing here? How…”

“You know the answer to that, Adam,” Maura says. She approaches and then tugs him into a hug, and Adam hugs back. She smells like candles and trees, and it makes his heart clench.

“We knew you’d need help, so we came down,” Maura says. The Gray Man claps him on the back, and Adam realizes that he must have broken into his car to get some dorm supplies to carry up. He wonders if they had to ask what room he’s in, but that seems like the sort of thing Maura would figure out on the way over.

“Sorry, I’m being so rude,” he says once Maura lets go. “This is Maura Sargent and Dean Gray. Maura is my best friend’s mom, and Mr. Gray is…” Adam has an uncomfortable second where he has no clue how to describe Mr. Gray. The man who physically killed his boyfriend’s father and is now helping them keep a lookout for other people searching for an object they think his boyfriend has which is actually just his boyfriend? A former hitman working for the good of Henrietta’s magical and psychic community? Maura’s boyfriend (when not even Blue really knows what’s going on there)? A friend? “He’s quite the guy. Maura, this is my roommate Chuck and his family.”

“Pleased to meet you!” Chuck’s mom says enthusiastically, and swiftly locks Maura into a conversation that’s moving too fast for Adam to follow with only one working ear and the background noise of the hallway leaking in through the open door.

“Why don’t we get the rest of your things out of the car?” Mr. Gray asks, close enough on his good side that Adam hears him clearly and can nod in response. He gives Chuck a tight smile and slips out of the room, Mr. Gray a shadow behind him.

When the get to the parking lot, Adam finally turns to look at him and ask the important questions.

“Did anyone see you break into my car?” Mr. Gray frowns.

“I am a professional.”

Adam figured something like that, but the Gray Man has been retired for a while and it’s always a good idea to check.

“Why are you guys here?”

Mr. Gray shrugs.

“Maura needs to give you something, and she knew that you’d be moving in alone. That’s not something we wanted to happen.”

Adam opened the trunk of the car and passed his last box to Mr. Gray before heading to the passenger side to grab his backpack.

“She’s already done enough, she really didn’t have to do this.”

“If you’re thinking about the grad party, you know that it was no extra work to include you, right? And it was Blue’s idea, anyway, so any adjustments that did have to be made were done by her, not Maura,” Mr. Gray says. Adam nods.

After finding out that Adam wasn’t going to have a graduation party (who would he invite? Where would it happen? What kind of food was he supposed to serve?), Blue had revolted and decided that if she had to have one, he had to have it with her. The backyard of 300 Fox Way became spattered with tables, the women made some sort of food concoction that Adam personally had no clue about the ingredients but tasted AMAZING, and the oddest collection of people Adam had ever seen showed up. Blue, of course, had everyone from Fox Way there, along with a few distant relatives of some of them that showed up. She invited some people from Nino’s, but no one from her school. The Vancouver Crowd made an enthusiastic appearance, causing a little bit of mass chaos. Adam invited Boyd, and that’s it, but Ronan came with his brothers, and Gansey came with his family, and somehow Adam’s pile of cards was almost as big as Blue’s by the time they started cleaning up. Adam still felt a twinge thinking about all of the money he got, but Blue hit him over the head and told him that this was not only socially acceptable, but partially the point of all grad parties thrown by people who didn’t have trust funds waiting for them.

Gansey and Ronan made sure neither of their families gave him money, but instead went with presents, and not necessary ones. Adam couldn’t bring himself to tell them how much he appreciated that, but they know anyway.

“The grad party was different,” Adam says, locking the car back up again. “You guys went out of your way to drive here, and I could have easily done this by myself.”

The Gray Man shrugs.

“Just because you could have doesn’t mean you should,” he says, then turns back towards Adam’s dorm building. Adam can’t do anything else but follow.

Back in his room, Maura and Chuck’s mom have started making the beds, with Chuck protesting that he can do it himself and his mother swatting him away every time he tries to intervene.

“Start unpacking your clothes, Chuckie. We’ll get your books next, give Adam some time to settle.”

“Maura, I can do that. You really don’t have to,” Adam says, slipping off his backpack and moving over to where she’s balanced on the ladder.

“You’ll be doing it for the rest of the year, Adam. Start unpacking your clothes like Chuck.”

Adam listens to her, because Blue gets the same look on her face when she’s not going to budge, and Blue is the only person who is possibly capable of being more stubborn than Adam about some things. He wouldn’t be surprised if Maura’s the one who gave her that ability. There’s a pause in the action where Adam has to move some things so Chuck can unroll the rug before Mr. Gray puts the fridge and microwave where directed. Otherwise, the atmosphere is pleasant, with the adults talking genially and Adam and Chuck exchanging small smiles.

The dorm room is bigger than the room at St. Agnes is, and even though he’s sharing he has more drawers and not enough things to fill them. On top of his side of the dresser, he puts a mint plant (Gansey’s gift), a paper flower (Blue’s), a postcard from Mexico from the start of the road trip the other three are on, a chewed up metal can that Opal had given him and made him promise to keep safe, and the tiny car with the wheels that play music that Ronan dreamed when he was a kid and took from his hands before kissing him on his childhood bed what feels like a lifetime ago.

“Hey Adam?” Chuck asks, pulling his focus away from the items. “Which desk do you want?”

Adam glances back at the one that Mr. Gray put his box on. It’s right by the door, and he hasn’t tested all of the drawers, but if some of them stick he can call maintenance to fix it.

“I can take the one that my stuff’s on already.”

“Okay.”

“Chuck, let’s go get your books before you put your desk together. Then we can stop by the store to pick up all those toiletries you left. That space under your bed is looking bare, do you want to find something at the store to fill it with? Maybe a tiny side table to go next to your chair? Ooo, it’s time to eat, too. Adam, do you and Maura and Dean want to come?”

Adam glances at Maura, then back to Chuck’s mom. “I think we’re okay here. Thank you, though, ma’am.”

“No need to ma’am me, honey, you can call me Judith or Mama, whichever you want. We’ll be back in a few hours, okay? Buh-bye, Maura, Dean, so nice to meet you. See you later, Adam! Come on Chuckie!”

Chuck’s mom is a whirlwind, and now that she’s gone and taken her husband and Chuck with her, the room feels incredibly empty.

“Let’s finish putting everything away. You already have your books, right Adam?” Maura asks. He nods. He spent a full morning at the Barns using Ronan’s computer to find the best deals online, then went around to different locations in the afternoon to be sure he was saving as much as possible.

It doesn’t take very long. Adam knew it wouldn’t, since it hadn’t taken him long move to St. Agnes, or to pack up his car. He can always rearrange his things later if he feels like it, too. Before long, Maura is sitting in his desk chair and beckons him over.

“Adam, I want you to know that you never have to do anything like this by yourself, and that you always have me and Dean here to help you.”

“I know,” he replies, even though he isn’t planning on ever letting her do something like this again.

“I also know that you don’t like to accept gifts, but I have one that I think you need,” Maura says, in a tone that suggests she doesn’t actually think he needs it, she knows. Adam still feels the knee-jerk reaction to bristle and insist that he doesn’t need anything from anyone, but he takes a deep breath instead. He can hear the frustrated sound Blue makes every time he tries to protest against one of his friends doing something for him, followed by her saying Let us love you! and punching him in the arm.

Maura pulls out a deck of cards and Adam understands.

The cards are old and worn, and Adam recognizes them immediately. No one has used them since Persephone’s death, but they’re the cards that helped him become a psychic and master his mind when Cabeswater was making reality and the forest hard to distinguish.

“It’s time for you to have your own tarot cards, gifted by a psychic, and it’s time for these cards to be used again.”

“Maura,” Adam says softly, then stops. He’s not sure what to say, and there’s a lump forming in his throat. He reaches for the cards instead, and they feel warm. Familiar. Like a piece of home he forgot to take with him. Like Ronan’s fingers tangled with his. Like Gansey's smile. Like Blue's laugh. Like the smudge on Noah's cheek. Like Cabeswater’s leaves wrapping around his lungs. Like Persephone’s golden hair creating a massive halo around her in the sunlight.

“Thank you,” he manages to say. Maura smiles at him, warmth tinged with another emotion that he can’t place yet.

“She wants you to have them,” she says, then she stands and envelopes Adam in a hug. He’s suddenly struck by how much he’s going to miss her and the rest of Henrietta.

“We should leave now, Dean,” she says, and Adam knows she’s right, because he wants to keep holding her and never let go. The longer she stays, the worse the goodbye will be.

“You know that you can always call me or Dean for whatever you need, right Adam?”

“I know,” he says. The Gray Man puts a hand on his shoulder, then gives Adam a smile. It throws Adam off immensely.

“We’ll see you at break,” she says, and Adam hasn’t planned out what’s going to be happening then other than him staying at the Barns and spending a lot of time wrapped up in Ronan’s bed, but he knows that she’s right.

“See you then,” he says. With one last squeeze of his shoulder, Maura and the Gray Man exit, closing the door behind them.

The room is suddenly to quiet and still, like all of the air has been taken out of it. Adam looks at the things he has yet to unpack. He looks at the chewed soda can, the paper flower, the mint plant, the postcard, the toy car. He looks down at the tarot cards in his hand and finds that there are tears leaking out of his eyes. Adam takes a moment to sit on his chair, think about home, how much he hates it, how much he loves it, and cries.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually pretty sure grad parties/open houses are a regional thing (I'm from the Midwest), so I don't know if people in Virginia even have them, but I love the thought of Blue forcing Adam to share hers when she finds out he's not having one.
> 
> I originally was going to post this on my own college's move in day, but I had RA training in the week leading up to it and didn't manage to get the story done in time, so it's a little bit late.
> 
> Adam's dorm room is based off of mine. Yes, the ceiling is actually high enough that I can stand under my bed as well as fully sit up on top of it without hitting my head. The school that Adam is attending, however, is entirely fictional.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated! I plan on writing more about Adam at college, so if there's something in particular you want to see, be sure to mention it and I might include it.


End file.
